The present invention relates to a cooking stove for use in a kitchen, etc, i.e. an electric cooking stove, a gas range, etc, and in particular to a cooking stove having a top plate with a flat surface for use as a cooking surface upon which cooking pans, etc. are placed to be heated by one or more heating elements disposed in the interior of the cooking stove beneath the top plate, such as high-frequency induction heating elements. The invention is especially applicable to a cooking stove of this type which is designed to fit within an aperture in a horizontally disposed top board of a unit of kitchen furniture, referred to in the following as a counter top. With prior art cooking stoves of this type, problems arise with regard to the means adopted for retaining the top plate of the stove in a fixed position. As described hereinafter, such means generally involve the use of screws which are visible from the exterior of the stove, and hence have an adverse effect upon the appearance of the stove, and also have the disadvantage that the upper part of the stove protrudes to a substantial extent above the upper surface of the counter top in which the cooking stove is fitted. In addition, it is necessary to remove all of the attachment screws in order to remove the top plate, when the interior of the cooking stove must be accessed for maintenance or other purposes, which is time-consuming and inconvenient.
It is an objective of the present invention to overcome the problems which arise with prior art arrangements for attaching the top plate of a cooking stove of the type described above, whereby the attachment means will not adversely affect the external appearance of the cooking stove, and will facilitate maintenance by enabling the top plate of the cooking stove to be rapidly removed.